On-line automated loan system

Abstract

A computerized system for determining whether to provide a loan to a customer who would like to purchase goods from a website of a merchant. The computerized system includes at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one program stored in at least one of the memories. The at least one program causes the computerized system to respond to a receipt of a notification that the customer is browsing one or more pages of the website by crawling one or more pages of the website to determine the presence or absence of specified features on the pages and providing a decision as to whether or not to authorize a loan to the customer to purchase the goods from the merchant as a function of the presence or absence of the specified features.

1 . A computerized system for making a decision as to whether to provide a loan to a customer who would like to purchase goods from a website of a merchant, the computerized system comprising at least one processor, at least one memory and at least one program stored in at least one of the memories, the at least one program, when executed on one or more of the processors, causing the computerized system to respond to the receipt of a notification that the customer is browsing one or more pages of the website by:
 crawling one or more pages of the website to determine the presence or absence of specified features on the pages; and   providing a decision as to whether or not to authorize a loan to the customer to purchase goods from the merchant as a function of the presence or absence of the specified features.   
     
     
         2 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the computerized system also authorizes payment to the merchant in the event the loan is authorized and the customer purchases goods from the website. 
     
     
         3 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the specified features includes the presence or absence of specified words on at least one of the web pages of the website. 
     
     
         4 . The computerized system of  claim 3 , wherein the specified words provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         5 . The computerized system of  claim 3 , wherein the specific words are stored on a configurable list. 
     
     
         6 . The computerized system of  claim 3 , wherein the specific words include one or more of the following phrases: “customer service”, “company history”, “our vision” or “live chat”. 
     
     
         7 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the specified features include features of the website which provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         8 . The computerized system of  claim 7 , wherein the specified features include one or more of the following: a kitemark or a certificate. 
     
     
         9 . The computerized system of  claim 7 , wherein the specified features include the presence of an HTML that closely follows the rules of Extendable Mark Up Language. 
     
     
         10 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the presence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the presence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         11 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the absence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the absence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         12 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the presence or absence of each specified feature is used to determine a respective scalar value and the scalar values are used to create a multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         13 . The computerized system of  claim 12 , wherein different weights are given to at least two of the scalar values in the multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         14 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the determination is made as a function of the frequency of occurrence of at least one of the specific features. 
     
     
         15 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         16 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to read each page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         17 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the number of links on at least one of the pages of the website. 
     
     
         18 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the decision is also made as a function of information about the merchant website gathered from third party sources. 
     
     
         19 . The computerized system of  claim 18 , wherein the third party sources include one or more third party websites. 
     
     
         20 . The computerized system of  claim 19 , wherein the third party websites include one or more of search engines, social networking sites and review sites. 
     
     
         21 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         22 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the web pages are crawled by following links located on web pages of the website to other web pages. 
     
     
         23 . The computerized system of  claim 1 , wherein the web pages are crawled by rating the links on one or more of the web pages and then following the links in an order based upon such rating. 
     
     
         24 . The computerized system of  claim 23 , wherein the rating is made as a function of the likelihood that the page identified by such link will contain one or more features of interest. 
     
     
         25 . The computerized system of  claim 23 , wherein only some of the links are followed. 
     
     
         26 . The computerized system of  claim 24 , wherein the crawling process is stopped after a predetermined time period even if not all of the links have been followed. 
     
     
         27 . A computer network, comprising:
 a customer computer which allows a customer to browse websites offering the sale of goods;   a loan approval computer system programmed to analyse whether or not a loan to the customer should be approved;   the customer computer sending a notification to the loan approval computer system when the customer's computer is browsing a merchant's website which is offering goods for sale; and   in response to the receipt of such notice, the loan approval computer system crawling one or more web pages of the website being browsed by the customer and determining whether or not to approve a loan to the customer as a function of the presence or absence of specified content on at least one page of the website.   
     
     
         28 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the computerized system also authorizes payment to the merchant in the event the loan is authorized and the customer purchases goods from the website of the merchant. 
     
     
         29 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the specified features includes the presence or absence of specified words on the pages. 
     
     
         30 . The computerized system of  claim 29 , wherein the specified words provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         31 . The computerized system of  claim 29 , wherein the specific words are stored on a configurable list. 
     
     
         32 . The computerized system of  claim 29 , wherein the specific words include one or more of the following phrases: “customer service”, “company history”, “our vision” or “live chat”. 
     
     
         33 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the specified features include features of the website which provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         34 . The computerized system of  claim 33 , wherein the specified features include one or more of the following: a kitemark or a certificate. 
     
     
         35 . The computerized system of  claim 33 , wherein the specified features include the presence of an HTML that closely follows the rules of Extendable Mark Up Language. 
     
     
         36 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the presence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the presence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         37 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the absence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the absence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         38 . The computerized system of  claim 37 , wherein the presence or absence of each specified feature is used to determine a respective scalar value and the scalar values are used to create a multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         39 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein different weights are given to at least two of the scalar values in the multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         40 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the determination is made as a function of the frequency of occurrence of at least one of the specific features. 
     
     
         41 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         42 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to read each page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         43 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the number of links in the web pages. 
     
     
         44 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the decision is also made as a function of information about the merchant website gathered from third party sources. 
     
     
         45 . The computerized system of  claim 44 , wherein the third party sources include one or more third party websites. 
     
     
         46 . The computerized system of  claim 45 , wherein the third party websites include one or more search engines, social networking sites and review sites. 
     
     
         47 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         48 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the web pages are crawled by following links located on web pages of the website to other web pages. 
     
     
         49 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the web pages are crawled by rating the links on one or more of the web pages and then following the links in an order based upon such rating. 
     
     
         50 . The computerized system of  claim 27 , wherein the rating is made as a function of the likelihood that the page identified by such link will contain features of interest. 
     
     
         51 . The computerized system of  claim 49 , wherein only some of the links are followed. 
     
     
         52 . The computerized system of  claim 51 , wherein the crawling process is stopped after a predetermined time period even if not all of the links have been followed. 
     
     
         53 . A process for making a decision as to whether to provide a loan to a customer who would like to purchase goods from a website of a merchant, the process being carried out by a computerized system comprising at least one processor, at least one memory and at least one program stored in at least one of the memories, the at least one program causing the computerized system to carry out the process of:
 responding to the receipt of a notification that the customer is browsing one or more pages of the website by:
 crawling one or more pages of the website to determine the presence or absence of specified features on the pages; and 
 providing a decision as to whether or not to authorize a loan to the customer to purchase goods from the merchant as a function of the presence or absence of the specified features. 
   
     
     
         54 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the computerized system also authorizes payment to the merchant in the event the loan is authorized and the customer purchases goods from the website. 
     
     
         55 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the specified features includes the presence or absence of specified words on at least one of the web pages of the website. 
     
     
         56 . The process of  claim 55 , wherein the specified words provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         57 . The process of  claim 55 , wherein the specific words are stored on a configurable list. 
     
     
         58 . The process of  claim 55 , wherein the specific words include one or more of the following phrases: “customer service”, “company history”, “our vision” or “live chat”. 
     
     
         59 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the specified features include features of the website which provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         60 . The process of  claim 59 , wherein the specified features include one or more of the following: a kitemark or a certificate. 
     
     
         61 . The process of  claim 59 , wherein the specified features include the presence of an HTML that closely follows the rules of Extendable Mark Up Language. 
     
     
         62 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the presence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the presence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         63 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the absence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the absence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         64 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the presence or absence of each specified feature is used to determine a respective scalar value and the scalar values are used to create a multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         65 . The process of  claim 64 , wherein different weights are given to at least two of the scalar values in the multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         66 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the determination is made as a function of the frequency of occurrence of at least one of the specific features. 
     
     
         67 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         68 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to read each page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         69 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the number of links on at least some of the pages of the website. 
     
     
         70 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the decision is also made as a function of information about the merchant website gathered from third party sources. 
     
     
         71 . The process of  claim 70 , wherein the third party sources include one or more third party websites. 
     
     
         72 . The process of  claim 71 , wherein the third party websites include one or more of search engines, social networking sites and review sites. 
     
     
         73 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         74 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the web pages are crawled by following links located on web pages of the website to other web pages. 
     
     
         75 . The process of  claim 53 , wherein the web pages are crawled by rating the links on one or more of the web pages and then following the links in an order based upon such rating. 
     
     
         76 . The process of  claim 75 , wherein the rating is made as a function of the likelihood that the page identified by such link will contain one or more features of interest. 
     
     
         77 . The process of  claim 75 , wherein only some of the links are followed. 
     
     
         78 . The process of  claim 76 , wherein the crawling process is stopped after a predetermined time period even if not all of the links have been followed. 
     
     
         79 . A process carried out by computer including a customer computer which allows a customer to browse websites offering the sale of goods, and a loan approval computer system programmed to analyse whether or not a loan to the customer should be approved, the process comprising:
 the customer computer sending a notification to the loan approval computer system when the customer's computer is browsing a merchant's website which is offering goods for sale; and   in response to the receipt of such notice, the loan approval computer system crawling one or more web pages of the website being browsed by the customer and determining whether or not to approve a loan to the customer as a function of the presence or absence of specified content on at least one page of the website.   
     
     
         80 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the computerized system also authorizes payment to the merchant in the event the loan is authorized and the customer purchases goods from the website of the merchant. 
     
     
         81 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the specified features includes the presence or absence of specified words on the pages. 
     
     
         82 . The process of  claim 81 , wherein the specified words provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         83 . The process of  claim 81 , wherein the specific words are stored on a configurable list. 
     
     
         84 . The process of  claim 81 , wherein the specific words include one or more of the following phrases: “customer service”, “company history”, “our vision” or “live chat”. 
     
     
         85 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the specified features include features of the website which provide an indication of whether the website is a website of a reputable merchant. 
     
     
         86 . The process of  claim 85 , wherein the specified features include one or more of the following: a kitemark or a certificate. 
     
     
         87 . The process of  claim 85 , wherein the specified features include the presence of an HTML that closely follows the rules of Extendable Mark Up Language. 
     
     
         88 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the presence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the presence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         89 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the absence of at least one specified feature has a positive impact on the decision and the absence of at least one other specified feature has a negative impact on the decision. 
     
     
         90 . The process of  claim 89 , wherein the presence or absence of each specified feature is used to determine a respective scalar value and the scalar values are used to create a multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         91 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein different weights are given to at least two of the scalar values in the multi-dimension vector. 
     
     
         92 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the determination is made as a function of the frequency of occurrence of at least one of the specific features. 
     
     
         93 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         94 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to read each page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         95 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the number of links in the web pages. 
     
     
         96 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the decision is also made as a function of information about the merchant website gathered from third party sources. 
     
     
         97 . The process of  claim 96 , wherein the third party sources include one or more third party websites. 
     
     
         98 . The process of  claim 97 , wherein the third party websites include one or more search engines, social networking sites and review sites. 
     
     
         99 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the decision is made as a function of the average time it takes to access a page of the merchant website. 
     
     
         100 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the web pages are crawled by following links located on web pages of the website to other web pages. 
     
     
         101 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the web pages are crawled by rating the links on one or more of the web pages and then following the links in an order based upon such rating. 
     
     
         102 . The process of  claim 79 , wherein the rating is made as a function of the likelihood that the page identified by such link will contain features of interest. 
     
     
         103 . The process of  claim 101 , wherein only some of the links are followed. 
     
     
         104 . The process of  claim 103 , wherein the crawling process is stopped after a predetermined time period even if not all of the links have been followed.